TopThrill182

Ride just came back online. And yes, I'd imagine letting go of a phone on this ride could cause some serious damage if it were to hit someone in the face. The park really needs to increase the length of the Steampunk soundtrack. I've heard each song what feels like 50 times already. Ha

Ride has been down for close to an hour now, but I haven't seen anyone forced to get out of line. Park must be crowded. Scream's line is out onto the midway.

^ Doesn't look like it, but I haven't tried / asked.

Just got off. "4 hour" line was only a little over 2. Wow. Fantastic ride! Don't know what else I can add to what's already been said. Lots of airtime throughout, the pace is very fast, and the layout is so much fun. Sadly, dueling is very hit or miss. I didn't have dueling on either of my two runs, and that doesn't appear to be totally uncommon. The ops are hustling, but with no test seat and no lockers / enforcement of no loose articles in line, a lot of boarding time is wasted on people putting things in the bins and larger riders trying to find a way to fit. Already in line again. Fingers crossed to duel this time!

Ride appears to be dueling at least every other run. The Green lift can move very slowly, which is good to see. On a run I just watched, the Train on the Blue side was dispatched when the train on the Green aide was already halfway up the lift. They were even by the top of the lift. Three trains running.

At the park now. Line for TC was back to Goliath at ~10:30am. Sign says wait is 4 hours. I think the park might have a big hit on their hands. Exciting to see such big crowds / so much enthusiasm!

Is four train operation definitely out of the question? Is it even possible with the block brake setup? I know the park originally said the fourth would be used as a maintenance rotation train only, but it seems like four trains would make it easier for the ride to duel. I still don't see why trains can't simply stop at the block brakes before the second lift. To those who suggest riders will panic and fear the ride is broken, can't the park simply install some kind of sign / audio announcement identifying the stop as a "staging area" for the second train to catch up? That area is only a few feet off the ground, so I don't see why it should cause anyone any alarm. (It's not like the train would be stopping hundreds of feet in the air.) Of course, slowing the Green lift down to a crawl should work, too. And the idea that the park will forgo dueling in the interest of higher capacity seems a bit of a cop out to me. To build and heavily advertise a dueling coaster only to then--before opening day--abandon the dueling aspect for greater throughput seems a drastic change in position. And it's not like this park is so dedicated to capacity on other attractions (e.g. one train operation on Full Throttle much of the time).

Is the preview still only scheduled until ~1:30pm tomorrow? Any word as to whether the ride will soft open later in the evening?

How exciting! This ride looks absolutely incredible. I've never actually gone to an opening day for a new ride before, so I think I'm going to brave the crowds on Saturday and get my first ride(s) in then. I hope the park can find a way to keep the dueling going. It looks to really add to the ride experience as Robb's thumbnail on the POV video shows.

Can't the Green lift simply be reduced to a crawl and buy time for the train on the Blue side to catch up? Or, perhaps trains could be held on the Blue side just after dispatch (there's a block brake before the pre-lift bunny hops, right?) to allow the train in the station some loading time. That way, each train would experience dueling for 1 out of 2 runs.

Why bother building (and advertising) a dueling coaster if the ride never actually duels?! It would be a large oversight, IMO, if it's determined before opening day that dueling is physically impossible. Surely the park / RMC has a plan of some sort to make the ride function as intended... Regardless, the ride looks / sounds incredible and I'm as excited as ever to ride it on Saturday.

And yet, this is the same park that once proposed headlining a 27 year old Intamin Freefall ride from CP while neighboring parks were, again, investing in massive new attractions... Knott's seems to think their best strategy is not getting drawn into the So Cal theme park spending war. I'm not sure I totally agree with that strategy, but I concede that the park can't outspend Disney / Universal. I completely agree. I think these "elementary" Triotech rides would be much better suited for CF's smaller "B" parks (at least for the time being). At the flagship properties, where CF faces greater competition for guests, I'm not sure these rides are of a high enough quality to be overly competitive yet.

For a Cedar Fair / Triotech effort, this looks to be about what I was expecting. I agree with the "It feels like a giant video game" comments, which make sense given how most of Triotech's experience has been in single-screen interactive cinema rather than large-scale amusement park rides. (I still don't quite understand why CF has chosen Triotech to be their stalwart partner in the former's dark ride push, but that debate is for another day.) The decision to leave the projectors completely exposed seems an odd oversight / laziness, and perhaps most disappointing are the reports of the story being underdeveloped. (The announcement gave me hope that this ride would feature a really clear and compelling story.) That being said, the addition of physical sets to link the various screens provides continuity and makes this installment seem much better than Wonder Mountain's Guardian, IMO. At the end of the day, it's great to see a vacant building put to use for an attraction that is completely different from anything else Knott's currently offers. Even if we were all to agree for a moment with those who suggest this ride is largely average, was anyone really expecting anything that much better?

Except for their Halloween Horror Nights, I've never been much of a fan of USH, which I've always thought to be small and lack attractions you'd want to experience more than once a year. But I have to say, this new area looks fantastic! I hope the park can continue to grow and improve in the years to come, and I'm certainly excited for Harry Potter.

Any further intel. on why MF recieved new fiberglass train bodies? Is there any precedence for that? (Were S:RoS's trains moved to fiberglass with the Bizarro transformation? I can't recall whether the ride received new trains entirely or just new restraints and on-board audio.) I never noticed how MF sported metal bodied trains whereas TTD's and Maverick's were fiberglass.

Forgive the ignorance of a non-Texan, but what's the deal with NTAG's trains these days? Didn't the park remove a car from each train near the end of last season? Was that temporary (for some reason I remember people thinking it was due to weather...)? Is the park still experimenting with continuous loading?

Any further word on the (supposed) 4th train? I know someone mentioned a few weeks back that the train was rumored to arrive in late May. The dueling looks awesome, but I'll be interested to see how (and if) it works out in real world operations. Anyone else feel like trains will end up holding at the block brakes before the second lift? I say that because the final brake run seems to be rather long; I'd imagine it will take a while for the train to actually reach the station after completing the ride. Loading and unloading will take time, of course, and then the train--once dispatched--has to navigate the stretch of bunny hills before engaging the lift. Based on the videos we've seen thus far, each side of the ride lasts ~37 seconds. If the lift takes ~30 seconds, as is suggested by the POV video, that means that trains have less than 1 minute and 10 seconds to do all of the above, which seems almost impossible to me, much less reliably feasible. I suppose it could help if the ride runs 4 trains simultaneously, allowing one train to stack and be ready to enter the station (and the other to hold at brakes just outside the station as the POV video shows), but I thought the park said the plan was to only run 3 at a time and keep the 4th in a maintenance rotation?

Are thrill rides of any kind really part of the park's future? As much as I'd love a new coaster, I can't help but feel the park is being positioned as a cheaper, family-friendly alternative to Disneyland, and I don't see a new hyper/Giga coaster being part of that plan.

I'm not familiar with typical construction schedules, but shouldn't the Breakers project have been finished before now? It looks like there are a lot of finishing touches to be done before guests check-in this weekend...

The ride looks incredible. Wow. I'm still curious to see how the Blue / Green transition is received once the ride opens, but otherwise, the speed looks relentless throughout. The outward airtime hill leading to the second lift looks like it will be a lot of fun, and it even looks like there could be a pop of airtime on the Green side in that "extra" hill leading into the final brake run.

Wow, this looks fantastic. Nearly every element of this project exceeds my expectations. -As others have said, the double-down element looks insane. I'm actually still somewhat wondering if the element will have to be changed out for something tamer a la Maverick's heartline roll. -While I was initially dubious about Scream's new paint job (I really liked the old 3 color scheme), it looks fantastic in these photos and really proves a better fit with the surrounding skyline, IMO. -The new Screampunk District looks great, and I think this is just what that section of the park needed. There actually seems to be more themeing than I was expecting, and there's also a lot of modernization that seems to have gone on to the surrounding facilities, pathways, etc., which is nice.

I'm most disappointed the park is choosing to leave the abandoned parking lot asphalt / Colossus footers in place (though, I can't say I'm surprised.) Some natural ground cover would have really made the area look great, IMO, sitting next to the bright new paint jobs. Regardless, the "Screampunk" area looks fine to me so far. I wasn't expecting anything overly elaborate. Some sprucing up / modernization of that formerly dated midway will be most welcome.

^ But doesn't it look as though they're constructing the banked turn into the lift (as seen on the POV) now? I'd be surprised if it changed too drastically; the brake run doesn't look very long to me. Other than the clockwise exit from the stall, what other changes have been made, really? Perhaps I'm not very perceptive, but it all looks very similar to the POV to me...

Why does there even need to be a brake run before the second lift? Doesn't the lift act as a block brake in of itself? While I'll be curious to see how the Blue / Green transition evolves, the rest of the ride looks absolutely incredible. Though it's been a while since it was installed, I'm still struck by the double-down on the Green side. It looks insane! And I think the new clockwise exit of the stall is a change for the better.

Any update on the transition between the Blue and Green sides? I realize people were saying it has changed from the "twisty" version displayed in the POV (it sounds like they're installing a block brake section?) but I don't quite understand what's being done there...